Posts by Rich of Observationz
-
One can argue that "taste" (as in food) is to a substantial degree a political/cultural construct though. (E.g: if one's environment is aspirant working class male, then e.g. Heineken is perceived as a drinkable product - if middle class hipster, then it's revolting and you want hop-filled designer beers with twee names. Does becoming conscious of the corporate ownership of the brewery alter the taste of the beer?)
We tend to find food products that are expensive to produce (rarity, low yields, tricky cultivation) desirable. Is this because they absolutely taste pleasant, or because we live in a society that elevates conspicuous consumption?
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NOor525RJs
We do now. —Ed.
-
Broadcasting channels (in the traditional radio/TV sense) are a scarce resource. It's reasonable that whoever is granted use of those resources by the community is subject to some contraints in the content delivered. As you move down the scale from a terrestrial TV channel to the Internet, those restraints become less important. (radio doesn't need to have political balance, for instance).
-
They are from UK government practice - I assume they originally were printed on that colour paper, or are still.
A white paper in an IT technical context is a brochure, only written in more pompous language.
-
anyone to hazard a guess when we can start suppressing hate speech again?
Germany, for instance, has some of the strongest laws on such speech in the democratic world. It doesn't stop the neo-Nazis.
Also, isn't it better that such people identify themselves so they can be watched appropriately?
-
Hard News: How much speech does it take?, in reply to JackElder,
We have those here, you know. I had to shake hands with the queen and swear allegiance to Dick Hubbard.
-
Hard News: How much speech does it take?, in reply to Rich Lock,
I'd argue (if I may) that it's basically wrongheaded for a state to try to impose any sort of normative culture (as the Brits are doing with citizenship tests, which are of course for immigrants, nobody suggests that the natives should take one and be thrown out if they fail).
The culture of the state is the sum of the people who happen to be living in that state. NZ culture now includes aspects of Chinese, Pasifika, Indian and many other peoples cultures.
Human rights is an overlay on that of course - just because my ancestors systematically violated peoples rights doesn't mean that I have a right to continue doing that.
-
Hard News: How much speech does it take?, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
s/cabinet/governmental cosy agreement
ok?
-
Hard News: How much speech does it take?, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
The Standard is not the left-wing equivalent of the sewer. It's a partisan site whose authors stand up for their beliefs.
On Kiwibleurgh (let alone places like Slater's blog), a majority of the commentators are predicate violent racists and bigots, and they are the ones on the "side" of the blog owners. On the Standard, you will find very few people supporting views at a similar extreme of the left (e.g. spiky anarchists / revolutionary maoists and the like). The snark at the Standard stems from the large number of right-wingers trolling the site and the righteous abuse they attract. IMHO, if the owners of the site were to ban righties from commenting, that would all go away and the site would be a much nicer place. But it's their call.
This place, OTOH, is a Grey Lynn dinner party. It's accepted that one should be liberal, but not too shrill about it.
-
Hard News: How much speech does it take?, in reply to merc,
Flavell. Being in a cabinet with Paula Bennett might do this to people, I think.